2013 NHL Mock Draft – First Look: Washington Gets Nathan MacKinnon

Sure, the NHL season is just seven games old, but for draft watchers, it’s never too early to play with mock drafts. With the posting of our most recent Consensus Top 100, we can debut our first edition of the 2013 NHL Mock Entry Draft. For the first time since 2006, the Oilers aren’t at the very top of the mock draft list, meaning some other team gets to brag about their beuild through terrible play. This year’s first candidate is the Washington Capitals, who are currently using the most prolific goal-scorer of the last 10 years in a checking capacity.

Also of note: Columbus currently has three picks in the top 12, their own (#5) the Kings (as a result of the Jeff Carter trade) and the Rangers (as a result of the Rick Nash trade).

The mock draft uses the NHL standings as of this morning for the selection priority and the NHL Numbers Consensus Top 100 List for the picks. The sources for the consensus list are Bob McKenzie, Future Considerations, ISS, Ryan Kennedy, Craig Button, Corey Pronman of Hockey Prospectus, and The Scouting Report. Their rankings are weight by their accuracy in ranking previous drafts: Bob McKenzie’s rankings carry the most weight as he’s the most accurate prognosticator in the group.

Marc-Andre Fleury is having an unbelievable postseason. His current Sv% of .947 doesn’t just lead all goalies in these playoffs, it’s actually the highest Sv% of any goalie in a playoff year since the 1960s (min 8 games) …with one important caveat: he has one round yet to play. I think the biggest question heading into the…